The Giver Lesson ReflectionIn my teaching video, I was teaching a lesson based on the novel The Giver. The lesson was a whole class activity. After the students read three or four chapters per night, the next day we would have a classroom discussion. On this particular day we were discussing the following questions: 1. What examples does the Giver use to demonstrate to Jonas how memories bring wisdom, which in turn allows him to advise the Committee of Elders? 2. What is the real reason the Receiver is so vital to the community? Why do you think this angers Jonas so much?3. What might the Committee of Elders think about Jonas transmitting memories to Gabriel? 4. Why do you think the community eliminated things like colors, pets, birthdays, etc? 5. Why do you think they changed the concept of family?

The discussion went well. This video allowed me to see the areas in which I do well and the areas in which I still need to improve. One of the things I did well in the video was choosing the students to answer the discussion questions. When choosing a student I always try to pick someone from the four different tables. Some days the students were very participatory but other days they do not want to participate despite having read the prior night. In the lesson there was one question that I noticed students did not want to participate and I decided to draw sticks that had all their names. I believe this is one of the things I do well. I want to ensure that the students are understanding what they are reading which is why I want them to explain and answer the questions. Instead of having a classroom discussion I could have them raise their hands and have them ask clarifying questions. But I decided to do classroom discussion because students benefit from discussing amongst themselves. In the lesson, I also noticed how I allowed students to add on to the responses from other students. During the discussion I want the class to be able to build the response together. In an area I want to improve in is in giving compliments during teaching. I constantly say yes or that was correct but I want to be able to compliment students for their responses that in return will encourage the rest of the class to participate. I hope that as I teach I can build on this area. Another incident that I saw in the lesson was questioning how I respond to responses that are incorrect. As a new teacher how do I guide a student who is not correct towards the correct direction in front of the classroom? In class, when Ive had situations like these Ill say, Does anyone have anything different or Can someone help so-and-so out? but in doing so I do not want to disencourage students who want to participate. While the lesson seemed to go well, after viewing it I started to wonder of how I could make this lesson more interactive. I really do want it to be a whole class discussion and not just a discussion where five or seven students share out of a class of twenty-four students. As I viewed this lesson I thought of how I could turn and use the five discussion questions into a socratic seminar or a debate in where all the classroom participates. If I could do this lesson over, I would also have a student recorder in front of the class who was recording the responses on the board or on chart paper. I would do this because this would give the students practice in note taking which is an important skill in middle school. The viewing of this lesson allowed me to see my method of teaching. I tend to stand in the front and only move around the class when I see students who are distracted. I want to be able to move around the classroom and to make lessons interactive with students learning from their peers and not only from the teacher.